The main legal point established in the judgment is that prosecution for perjury should only be initiated when there is a prima facie case of deliberate falsehood on a matter of substance and when it is considered expedient in the interest of justice to punish the delinquent.

JUDGMENT

Arun Kumar Tyagi, J. - The petitioner has filed the present appeal under Section 341 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short the Cr.P.C.) read with Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. against order dated 04.05.2019 passed by learned Additional District Judge, Bhiwani whereby application filed by the appellants under Section 340 of the Cr.P.C. for initiating proceeding against the respondent for making false statement in the Court has been dismissed.

2. Briefly stated the facts giving rise to the filing of the present appeal are that the appellants filed civil suit No. 18 of 2013 titled as Smt. Santosh Devi and another v. Suresh Kumar and another . Along with the civil suit, the appellants filed application under Order 39 Rule 1 and 2 read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 which was dismissed by learned Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division) Loharu vide order dated 12.04.2013. The appellants filed Miscellaneous Civil Appeal No. 16 of 2013 titled Santosh Devi and another v. Suresh Kumar against the above said order. During pendency of the above said appeal, learned Counsel for respondent Suresh Kumar made statement that if during the pendency of the suit, respondent Suresh Kumar will alienate the property in dispute then he will intimate the Court prior to alienation. Thereupon, learned Counsel for the appellant made statement withdrawing the appeal which was accordingly dismissed as withdrawn vide order dated 12.07.2013. The appellants filed application under Section 340 of the Cr.P.C. for taking action against respondent Suresh Kumar on the ground that the land in dispute had already been sold prior to 12.07.2013 when learned Counsel for the respondent made above referred statement before the Court and the complaint be filed against respondent in accordance with Section 340 of the Cr.P.C. The above said application was opposed by the respondent in terms of reply filed to the same. In the reply, the respondent submitted that the respondent could not contact his counsel and could not inform him regarding the sale deed No. 358 dated 17.06.2013 executed by him before there was any stay from any Court of law and his Counsel was not aware about the same. In view of the execution of the sale deed by the respondent prior to his appearance on 12.07.2013, the appeal had become infructuous. The application was dismissed by learned Additional District Judge, Bhiwani vide order dated 04.05.2019. Feeling aggrieved the appellants have filed present appeal.

3. I have heard arguments addressed by learned Counsel for the appellants.

4. Learned Counsel for the appellants has submitted that the respondent had already sold the land in question vide registered sale deed No. 358 dated 17.06.2013 but his Counsel made false statement on 12.07.2013 that in case during the pendency of the suit the respondent will alienate the property in dispute he will intimate the Court prior to alienation. On the basis of his statement, the appeal filed by the appellants was withdrawn by their counsel. The application filed by the appellants has been wrongly dismissed on the ground that statement was not made by the respondent and the respondent could not be held liable to punishment for wrong statement made by his Counsel. The impugned order suffers from material illegality and may therefore be set aside with direction to the Court concerned to file complaint against the respondent.

5. In the present case, the appellants filed application under Section 340 of the Cr.P.C. for taking action against the respondent for false statement made by his counsel on his behalf in the course of hearing on the appeal.

6. Sections 193, 199 and 200 of the IPC, which are relevant to the decision of the present appeal, read as under:-

'Section 193: Punishment for false evidence.-

Whoever intentionally gives false evidence in any of a judicial proceeding, or fabricates false evidence for the purpose of being used in any stage of a judicial proceeding, sh